Wearing the Cape: the Sequels

(Well, I started writing this last Friday but never got around to posting it, so all the time references to last week actually are about the week before last.)

Last week I got the nasty stomach bug of doom that Ben had. I woke up on Wednesday with a low-grade fever and a stabbing feeling in my gut like I’d got food poisoning. Oh no! I stumbled out and told Dom I felt awful and he made plans to work from home except for the radio show which he had to be in the studio to do live in the afternoon. I slept most of the morning and took an afternoon nap. And Dom picked up takeout for dinner. Then Thursday I felt fine in the morning only to completely fold in the middle of the afternoon. I texted Dom and he left work early to come home and whip up a pancake dinner for the kids. Today I felt much better but am cautiously sticking to my Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, Toast and Yogurt.

Of course the upshot of having a genuine sick day was that I felt not at all guilty about breezing my way through the next three books in the Wearing the Cape series: Bite Me: Big Easy Nights; Villains Inc.; and Young Sentinels . (Also the short story, Omega Night).

Bite Me: Big Easy Nights: When is a superhero story not a superhero story? When it’s a vampire story, of course. Jacky the vampire takes a break from being a hero to visit New Orleans and help the feds with their vampire problems. It’s a slightly campy tribute to Anne Rice and New Orleans vampire goth culture. With some voodoo and werewolves thrown in for fun. This is the book where you have a priest who says he’s with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. (Oh yeah, that would also be known as the former Holy Inquisition.) And it mentions in passing that the pope has written an encyclical on the subject of “breakthroughs,” the terms used to refer to anyone who has acquired any kind of superhero, super-villain, or supernatural powers after The Event. I love that he’s thought this through from the Catholic perspective. Of course there would be an encyclical!
BM:BEN is sort of a stand-alone. It departs from Chicago and the Sentinels framework and chronologically fits in between Wearing the Cape and Villains Inc. You could skip it if you wanted to, but why would you?

Villains Inc. Honestly, I breezed through this one and Young Sentinels and they sort of blur together into one story. It’s a classic middle novel in the series that gets your from point A to point B with some nice scenery along the way. It wasn’t a bad book, on the contrary. I just don’t remember it clearly enough to summarize.

Young Sentinels introduces a new group of up and coming heroes. My favorite hands down is Ozma. Yes, that Ozma. I like the continued emphasis on family and friendships. The way this one ended, I could tell there’s going to be several sequels and that’s fine with me. I am so excited to discover that the next book it in the works. Working title: Small Town Heroes.

I’ve only got half the links, but I’m going to publish this now, because I’m tired of dragging my feet. It’s been a week already!